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Logic user trying out Cubase. Curious about MIDI editing.

Fitz

Active Member
I’m so used to several things in Logic and I’m trying to figure out in Cubase

How do I make all selected notes the same length?

The same velocity?

How do I move them all up or down one octave with one click?

Etc.

All these things I found so easy in Logic... have been difficult out to figure out. Love the layout, just need some newbie tips.
 
There is of course more than one way to do these things, but here's my take:

How do I make all selected notes the same length?

Select all, type in the new length to the info line at the top of the screen. Cmd+Enter sets absolute value, just Enter relative.
There is also the MIDI -> Functions -> Fixed Lengths which sets all notes to your Quantize value. You can assign a hotkey for this.

The same velocity?
Same as with length, either use the info line or via MIDI -> Functions -menu. Velocity gives you a dialog to enter the value, Fixed Velocity changes everything to the Insert Velocity value which is adjustable at the top of the screen (above infoline).

How do I move them all up or down one octave with one click?
This is easiest to do with the keyboard up/down arrows. Single press for semitones, Cmd+up/down for octave.
 
There is of course more than one way to do these things, but here's my take:

How do I make all selected notes the same length?

Select all, type in the new length to the info line at the top of the screen. Cmd+Enter sets absolute value, just Enter relative.
There is also the MIDI -> Functions -> Fixed Lengths which sets all notes to your Quantize value. You can assign a hotkey for this.

The same velocity?
Same as with length, either use the info line or via MIDI -> Functions -menu. Velocity gives you a dialog to enter the value, Fixed Velocity changes everything to the Insert Velocity value which is adjustable at the top of the screen (above infoline).

How do I move them all up or down one octave with one click?
This is easiest to do with the keyboard up/down arrows. Single press for semitones, Cmd+up/down for octave.
Thank you for this.

Any other tips for a new user coming from Logic? Any workflow ideas are appreciated. I’ve alresxy mapped a lot of my key commands from Logic into cubase.
 
For those kind of tasks the logical editor is your friend. Understanding it and assigning key commands can speed up the workflow significantly. I don’t know if logic has something similar.
You can check the presets and change numbers and parameters to your needs. This works for me pretty well and teaches me how it works. E.g.You can copy controller datas with one click.
Be aware that key commands only work if the editor is closed. If it is open you have to click the apply button. Things like this can drive you crazy in the beginning.
Its the same with offline processing. It only does it’s thing when the editor window is closed again.
 
For those kind of tasks the logical editor is your friend. Understanding it and assigning key commands can speed up the workflow significantly. I don’t know if logic has something similar.
You can check the presets and change numbers and parameters to your needs. This works for me pretty well and teaches me how it works. E.g.You can copy controller datas with one click.
Be aware that key commands only work if the editor is closed. If it is open you have to click the apply button. Things like this can drive you crazy in the beginning.
Its the same with offline processing. It only does it’s thing when the editor window is closed again.
Could you explain what the logical editor is? And so you mean those key commands only work when the piano roll is open?
 
You find the logical editor in the midi menu. Just open it up. In detail it would take to much time to explain right now I’m afraid and I’m no expert on this anyway.
Check the manual and there are some yt tuorials on it but not that many.
I dont know if the key commands work only in the piano roll since I always have it open when I edit midi and I’m not at the studio right now to check it out.
What I wanted to say in my above post was that if you apply a key command to a task you have to close the logical editor to make it work.
 
As a long time Cubase (and logic) user, I cant even think of a scenario where I would do either. I say that to further understanding-not as judgement that theres anything wrong with doing whatever youre doing that way. The reason i can think of that you might want all the lengths the same is drum editing, which is why theres been an actual drum editor for 20 years. ;)

Are you going to properly intonate strings? Use the per note drum editor mappingst to try sending your kick to another VI all together? Use the, IMO, better score editing to collect string or horn parts onto a great scale to view/edit them as a chord despite midi requiring they be on different tracks/channels? Have you set up articulation maps for your instruments? I know you can do that in Logic as of 6 months ago, but its been in Cubase for a decade or more.

If we flip the tables, talk tempo mapping....Logic (V10.4+) beats its automatic detection, but its still kludgey to FIX wher it misdetects....thats a BIG deal in my world, where anything midi is done against human played audio (usually sans click)...and its maddening to me that one has a better algo for detction and the other makes much quicker work of manually adjusting until the click sinks into the pocket. Which is better? Making a better first guess or making quick and easy work of fine tuning it by ear? That depends completely on WHY youre mapping tempo...and maybe how well versed you are in the concept of a pulse vs an attack transient in music.

If “midi editing”, for you, is stuff you do in the keyroll, i dont think youll find a ton of tangilble difference. To me, its about the things nothing else can do....and a few it just does quicker/easier.

I hope this post is taken as intended, which is to better understand at least what I mean when I talk about “better at midi”. I use midi sequencing for three things: fake drums during the songwriting/demoing process...Logic is so absurdly ahead here its not even comparable with the auto tempo mapping AI based Drummer....and string/horn section arrangements. Here, the inverse is truer and Cubase is more capable at least for how I work.
 
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